"The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seems to be building an army.
The IRS spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition and “military-style equipment” between 2006 and 2014, according to a new report.
IRS investment in heavy firearms and tactical gear is a new trend for the agency, but it follows a pattern of militarization repeated throughout the executive branch of the government.
...The report shows that the IRS and other non-law enforcement agencies rapidly increased purchases of military gear in the past decade.The amount the IRS spends on weapons and equipment has risen since 2006 from around half a million to $1,070,456 in 2014.
Purchases of guns and ammunition spiked in 2011 to more than $2 million, according to the report. Over the same period, the number of special agents the IRS employed declined from more than 3,000 to just about 2,000 in 2014.
...While the number of IRS special agents has declined, the number of total federal agents has increased sharply.
“The number of non-Defense Department federal officers authorized to make arrests and carry firearms (200,000) now exceeds the number of U.S. Marines (182,000),” former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn and OpenTheBooks founder and CEO Adam Andrzejewski said in a Wall Street Journal column..."
1 comment:
The writer should educate his or herself on these federal agencies before making these comments. Virtually every federal agency has a law enforcement component which is duly authorized to carry a gun, effect arrests, conduct search and seizure warrants so it isn't unusual for guns, ammunition and body armor to be part of the budget. It should also be noted that guns are required to be replaced at regular intervals because they are designed to safely and effectively fire a limited number of rounds.
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